Worldview

Younger Christians Less Supportive of Death Penalty
“When asked if they agreed that “the government should have the option to execute the worst criminals,” 42 percent of self-identified Christian boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, said “yes.” Only 32 percent of self-identified Christian millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, said the same thing.”

For the Love of MoneyAged 30, Sam Polk was so addicted to money that even when he was earning $3 million a year, he found it wasn’t enough.

I was nagged by envy. When the guy next to you makes $10 million, $1 million or $2 million doesn’t look so sweet….I was a fireball of greed….I wanted a billion dollars.

He goes on to speak of how he slowly came to realize he was a wealth addict, an addiction that was not just tearing himself apart, but he says is rending the whole nation in two.

There are multiple sermon illustrations and quotes in here as Polk describes breaking his addiction, and all the withdrawal symptoms that followed! He’s now a campaigner against wealth addiction:

From a distance I can see what I couldn’t see then – that Wall Street is a toxic culture that encourages the grandiosity of people who are desperately trying to feel powerful.

He is calling Wall Street traders to donate 25% of their bonuses to a fund that will be used to help people who actually need the money that they’ve all been chasing.

Good luck with that, Sam!

Kids Are Different: There Are Lots of Different Ways to Educate Them
Lots of fascinating and thought-provoking ideas about education in this interview with Glen Reynolds, author of The New School. Harland says that most schools are tied to failing 19th century teaching models imported from Germany. He paints a future of increased home-schooling, online courses, charter schools, and a wide range of school choices. On the changing college education scene, he says:

If you’re 18 years old and you can go to college online, and also work in a job and also live at home, your net cost of going to college is vastly lower than if you leave home, go somewhere where you really can’t work much, have to pay to live in a dorm, have to buy a meal plan, and have to pay full tuition.